Writing on the Wall for Egyptian/Israeli Peace

Last week, a group of terrorists in Sinai killed 16 Egyptian soldiers before launching a failed attack into Israel. And a few days later, the new Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi, removed the chief of the armed forces and defense minister, Mohammed Tantawi, along with the army, navy and air force service heads. On the same day, he also cancelled the constitutional addendum restricting presidential powers that Tantawi and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had imposed last June. These events tell us much about what lies ahead.

Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood candidate who won presidential elections, has full executive and legislative authority. He can convene a new constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, without the oversight of the military establishment that has ruled Egypt for six decades.

This means an Islamist constitution. The Brotherhood, the “the mother of all Islamist movements” as Shadi Hamid, a Middle East expert at the Brookings Institution’s Doha Center, puts it, an Islamist organization dating back to 1928, whose leading ideologues, notably Sayyid Qutb, were the precursor of al-Qaeda, will create an Islamist order in Egypt.

The Brotherhood is vehemently anti-American, so expect a slow demise in the alliance into which America poured $60 billion over three decades. Its leader, Muhammad Badi’ said in October 2010 that, “The U.S. is now experiencing the beginning of its end, and is heading towards its demise.”

The Brotherhood is also virulently opposed to Israel’s existence and calls for the rescission of the Egyptian/Israeli peace treaty. Its deputy leader, Rashad al-Bayoumi has described Israel as “enemy entity” and asserted that the existing peace treaty “isn’t binding at all.” Expect Israeli/Egyptian relations – frosty at the best of times – to petrify.

Morsi no longer speaks for the Brotherhood – he resigned on becoming president – but he needn’t: it speaks for itself. And its reaction to the recent terrorist attack, which the Israelis narrowly averted, was to blame it on the Israeli intelligence service “Mossad, which has been seeking to abort the Egyptian revolution.” Hamas, the Palestinian off-shoot of the Brotherhood which controls Gaza and calls in its Charter for the worldwide murder of Jews, took the same line. Its prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, stated, “The crime itself and what preceded it confirms Israel’s involvement in one way or another.”

Is Mr. Mandel claiming that Mossad, has not been seeking to abort the Egyptian revolution? The Israeli press sure has. For weeks they have been lamenting that they can't prop up the gelatinous and wrinkled form of Hosni Mubarak to rule for just a few more decades.

Common sense: Egypt just had a revolution and now they have a new President. Right after his victory, they kill 16 of their own people, steal a personnel carrier and charge into the Sinai "with President Morsi's help?" This is a strategy? Hogwash.

http://www.facebook.com/introvert321 Shmuel Malov

The only problem Morsi might find with what happened is that those terrorists got ahead of themselves and attacked too early. It is doubtful that he was against it.

EthanP

You never give up do you!

PaulRevereNow

You don't take common sense far enough. Common sense: Islamists kill their own people all the time. Just look at whats going on in Syria. So why do you feign surprise that the MB has killed 16 Egyptian soldiers? The article also stated that Morsi has purged the Egyptian military, firing Hussein Tantawi and others, who posed a threat to his authority. Strategy will follow. But when war breaks out, you will say, "This is a war?"

Advocatus

Come on now, Schlomo: on another thread you've just berated Raymond Ibrahim for referring to unsubstantiated accounts of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood having crificified some opponents.

Because their war is not with Israel, it is with the Jews. Israel is just the lightning rod.

SKIP

Because their book says it must be so and not just Israelis, this fatwa goes for all non muslims. As one can easily see, muslims take as much pleasure in killing each other as they do killing non muslims.

jacob

REASONS ??????

Just read the "Holy" Koran, which ALL MUSLIMS must obey blindly and you'll find the reasons….

As to the Egyptian-Israeli "Treaty", was it anything but a plain "CEASE FIRE" at best ????

And now with the Muslim Brotherhood in full power, what is there in store for Israel ????

I'm afraid ARMAGEDDON is looming in the horizon….

Kufar Dawg

Bukhari:V4B52N177
"Allah's Apostle said, ‘You Muslims will fight the Jews till some of them hide behind stones. The stones will betray them saying, "O Abdullah (slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him."'"

Ishaq:441
"Allah's Apostle said, ‘The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him."'"

In Sahih Muslim: Book 041, Number 6985:
Abu Huraira reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but the tree Gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews.

watsa46

They refused to acknowledge Mohamed as …. of "god".

Mburu

"On the same day, ELECTED President Morsi also cancelled the constitutional addendum restricting presidential powers that Tantawi and the UNELECTED Supreme Council of the Armed Forces had ILLEGALLY imposed last June.

EthanP

Well said.

EthanP

What no one mentions is that 10 days ago they were saying Morsi had no power, among other negative things. Yet he dismissed the High Command with not a wimper. As to a conflict with Israel. While I have (IMHO) no doubt that Israels destruction is his, as it is for all Islamists, his ultimate goal, he is no fool. Despite all of the M-1 tanks and F-16s the US has given Egypt, there is no question that the qualitative edge in manpower, the true decisive factor in military power, is firmly with Israel. So the MB in the form of Hamas may fire missles and resort to a continuing campaign of terror, but they know beyond doubt the result of a military confrontation with Israel.

Andy

Israel needs not concern itself with Egypt. If they stick to the agreement fine. If they want war, Israel can rout that failed country in a long weekend. What Israel needs to worry about are its own lefties and mentally challenged with the same mentalities some of their forefathers had in Europe in the 1930s who kept saying that Hitler was just posturing, joking. These and their suicide-voter cousins in America who support Obama.

Marty

egypt is a failed state regardless of what ruler is misgoverning it and destroying the economy. It has little to no chance of becoming democratic since every political movement and ideology refuses to disendorse corruption and hatred of Israel as well as its copt minority. Nothing useful comes out of egypt. The place hasn't progressed since islam wrecked the society 1300 years and burned down the library in Alexandria. islam enthusiastically destroys any society it touches and forces it into a primitive mindset.

Stan Lee

Egypt has its internal problems, religious, organizational. governmental, military. One of the traditional methods of forcing unity in a country is by way of nationalism….by way of war.

Kufar Dawg

Or by blaming the Jews…kinda like MuhamMAD did, Hitler did and most every islamic leader the world has ever seen.

flowerknife_us

Israel needs to throw these problems back in the faces of the Egyptians. It is for Egypt to solve as the Treaty stands. Altering the Treaty any more than it has on the part of the Egyptians is unacceptable. It should not be viewed as an act of peace and good will. Force the World body politic to face who is actually at fault.

Both sides are heavily equipped with American arms. Will the difference between who may actually get re-supplied be as simple as who our next President will be???

Drakken

Egpyt is going back to the dark ages and with 80 million mouths to feed, they will be fed a daily diet of jihad and make no doubt, the muzzys will attack Israel at some point and when they do I hope Israel takes the gloves off and takes the opportunity to push that rats nest called Gaza into the sea and takes the Sinai, then pushes on to Cairo and put all the Imams at their feet where they belong.

Raymond in DC

Egypt's request for 750 troops to be allowed into Sinai to deal with weapons smuggling was just the first of such requests. Not surprisingly, 750 was not enough, so Egypt asked for 750 more. Israel said OK. Funny, things didn't really improve. So now it's a couple of brigades, armored vehicles, gunships and a few fighter jets. Israel hesitates to say No. Now I'm seeing reports of reinforcements *without* Israel's approval.

The right course of action from the beginning, as now, is to demand that if Egypt is granted more rights in Sinai, so too should Israel. Start with the right to conduct aerial reconnaissance, and the right of "hot pursuit". If remilitarization is permitted, all that will be left of the peace treaty would be Israel's right of free passage through the Suez Canal and Straits of Tiran. For that they gave up the Sinai? And how long until those rights too will be circumscribed?

Israel will learn and exercise exponentially the same brutality with which it is faced. That will ensure the 'peace'. When Arabs can no longer wage war and terrorism against Israel with impunity the complexion of this conflict will dramatically change.